eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

October 26, 2007

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

By: Ina Steiner

Fri Oct 26 2007 15:42:57

There's been speculation for months that Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety Rob Chesnut was out at eBay, and now it's confirmed. Why the mystery surrounding this is beyond me. He's been MIA since June, and when we asked about it in August, eBay said he'd be back in the fall.

Given the secrecy, let me ask you: Do you think Chesnut leaving eBay is a good thing or a bad thing?

Comments (19) | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: concho

Fri Oct 26 19:11:43 2007

Strange situation. There were stories just today quoting his testimony on behalf of eBay before a congressional committee. Rob seemed well liked among the users. Perhaps he just can't stomach the self-destruction going on in the company these days.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Alex

Fri Oct 26 21:06:19 2007

Since he seems like a nice guy, who knows ??

Some people have a hard time sleeping when their superiors put them in a position where they have to lie to their customers constantly...

Maybe he is one of them...

:O)

Of course, if any of the recent seller punishment programs were his idea, yes - he should go.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: DOC

Fri Oct 26 21:32:53 2007

Sounds like he didn't want to do things eBay's way..

Scammers are still sending fake second chance offers, how are they getting supposingly hidden bidder id's direct emai addresses?

Now The Guardian is reporting Vladuz has been listening in on eBay corporate phone calls.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/25/ebay.hacking<
BR>

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Richard Chemel

Fri Oct 26 21:39:32 2007

What is happening at eBay with seasoned employees leaving because the business is changing reminds me of what happened to the record business when the creatives were pushed out by the accountants, lawyers.

It started a couple years ago with Shira Levine, who headed powersellers- went to prosper.com- No replacement
Then Walt Dufflock left - head of trading assistants
(Fill in the blanks for the rest)
Now Rob Chestnut- who really did initiate alot during his stint at T & S. Its sad that eBay can't come clean and announce he left, along with his replacement. But this is eBay....

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Diva

Fri Oct 26 22:32:11 2007

Rob Chesnut is a good guy and probably couldn't "look the other way" anymore regarding Vladuz, and the rest of the crazy stuff that eBay is famous for.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: concho

Fri Oct 26 23:10:53 2007

>>Of course, if any of the recent seller punishment programs were his idea, yes - he should go

nope, the "purge" idea belongs to VP Philip Justus who has Meg's ear (or some other part)

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: firemeg

Sat Oct 27 06:57:48 2007

Who cares if he is/was a nice guy?

Who cares if he had good intentions?

Look back over his tenure and you will find a failed security program - headed by Rob Chestnut. You will see eBay and Paypal become #1 & #2 respectively as the world's most phished websites. You will find numerous accounts of hacking to some degree, unchecked pharming redirects in listing pages, lies about eBay's filter system (of which he was a big player in forming - providing you believe they exist)....

You could go on and on looking at his failures and shortcomings. In the field of security, just being a nice guy doesn't account for much, especially if you've just had your ID stolen or sent a scammer $6000 through Paypal for an auction that had a detailed overlay with redirects to mirror pages.

Everyone who reads any story concerning his leaving would be highly interested in the real reason for his departure - even an off-the-record explanation would be nice.

...all of that said, his performance did rate higher than Meg & Bill in our customer satisfaction survey.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: bill bogardus

Sat Oct 27 07:38:17 2007

Heads roll.
Just as when paypal went down and they axed the top folks......

The last hacking was an embarrassment. Someone had to go. By Choice or Not.

That is the Way of the Bay.
Imho
Biggy

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: fishlips

Sat Oct 27 12:39:24 2007

Ok now Meg should be next. Look at the decrease in sales over the last couple of years. Look at the number of power sellers that have left.

Nice guy. Look that can keep you in an elected spot for years but being totally ineffective should mean someone has to go. Ebay breaks each and every one of the principles they say they stand for and that are the cornerstones of their business. Go to those forums and you will see that it is filled with actual ebay employees trying to monitor and screen conversations about Ebay. The entire company is a joke and the shareholders should get a totally new set of management or else they will be looking at the stock tanking.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: jsicolts

Sat Oct 27 14:18:49 2007

it's a Very Good thing - a little late, but the start of heads to roll.
Meg is next, hopefully.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Boycott Ebay

Sat Oct 27 18:44:52 2007

Good? Bad? Who cares? His successor is Matt Halprin. According to the Chatter "His team has been responsible for launching many initiatives, including Feedback 2.0 (Detailed Seller Ratings), Buyer Requirements, our anti-counterfeiting initiatives, and our recent efforts to raise seller standards to ensure great buying experiences."

Most of the above has been disastrous for sellers and of little help for buyers. So where is the gain in passing the torch to Halprin? Halprin, Chestnut, or Mother Goose, it matters not at all. Ebay's rep is shot and it is much deserved.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Andrea

Tue Oct 30 08:19:13 2007

Who cares, really? The whole site is a sad imitation of what it used to be. When buyers had to rely only on feedback and almost nobody took credit cards, fraud was manageable.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Bill Berdizman

Tue Oct 30 10:26:59 2007

He was hospitalized ealier in the year and shortly there after went on leave. I don't know if the two go together. He personally helped this Top Seller fight a big manufacturer from abusing the law. eBay members are the people making the site good and bad. They assume every transaction is a screw job waiting to happen but keep coming back. It's a free market so if you don't like it move on. If buyers and sellers looked at it like any retail transaction and left their emotions out of it then the site would be much better.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Donna

Tue Oct 30 11:53:30 2007

Who knows? All I can say is, I hope he writes a book when this is all over.

I attended a seminar he gave at Live in June 2007. He was very open to chatting with people afterwards. I had confidence in him... but who knows?

Phishing and many things cannot be blamed on eBay - those are the efforts of outsiders.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Peter Leeflang - CEO Leeflang Archive Corp

Tue Oct 30 11:54:09 2007

I don't know the man. However, if he was part of the 'amateurish club culture' of Ebay, him being replaced may be a good sign.

We need a business-oriented, meritocratic, bottom line culture on Ebay, at all levels of the company. That is what has been missing.

Signals like this and like Ebay's changes in policies like now heading for volume discount and more rational fees, even posisbly by category, may be a preview on a turnaround of their corporate culture.

There is no use for 'clubbish' amateurs who dream of irrational egalitarian communities, when inequality is what make seconomies and businesses run.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: Hammer time

Wed Oct 31 20:27:34 2007

Ebay doesnt need that guy, because there is no trust and you have to watch for your safety. This is the beginning of the end....
Who ever said, that the decline in returning buyers to the ebay site was the fault of sellers?? if there are no buyers, there cant be sellers?? Keep it up ebay, and there wont be sellers, or buyers. The big piece of prime real estate in san jose that paypal is building on,is going to end up being like the rest of the dot bombs in silicon valley. empty and for sale. Must suck for ebay to have to see Judge Komar with the kneepads and chapstick.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: nibbles

Fri Nov 2 18:16:34 2007

any news that anyone who is (or was) in the ivory tower of eBay is good news. the more who follow the better. eBay keeps it up, it will implode.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: JustMe

Thu Mar 13 09:13:07 2008

It's a good thing, eBay needs to be more proactive in their security, period.

In all honesty, eBay should get Vladuz (even if I still want to see his mug shot plastered all over the news, while wearing those pretty metal bracelets) to head their Trust & Safety, or someone who knows what they are doing.

So many companies hire ex-cons, because they are the only people with the 'street' smarts to stay ahead of their kind.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

eBay Head of Trust & Safety Steps Down

by: keepingmysecrets

Thu Mar 13 21:48:53 2008

Sounds to me like he knows something is not being done right at eBay; perhaps something either illegal or on the fringes of the law. Either that or the hackers got past him and eBay is annoyed about it. Either way, I suspect he didn't want to tote the company line anymore.

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